Morning Star Venus enters the first gate into the Underworld when the waning Moon conjuncts Venus representing the seventh chakra. The Sumerians described the cosmological cycle of Venus through the Story of Inanna, Queen of Heaven, as a way to understand and to keep track of the Venus cycle.

The story begins when Inanna decides to attend the funeral of her sister’s husband, Gulaganna (a.k.a the Great Bull of Heaven as this also described the death of the age of the Bull or the age of Taurus).

Inanna puts on her full ceremonial regalia and begins her journey into the Underworld. When she reaches the first gate she is told she must enter the underworld like everyone else and is required to give up one of her vestments. Each gate represents a chakra and this gate represents the 7th chakra where she is asked to give up her crown.

The first gate is also known as the Gate of Divine Authority and the release of her crown represents the release of any distortions she has with her direct connection to spirit and the divinity that she innately is. One way to get a sense of this is to see it as a Fall from Grace… In Sobonfu Some’s book Falling Out of Grace she says:

^{…If we are going to achieve our purpose in life, we must be willing to fall out of grace and accept its lessons. When we feel righteous about ourselves or deny our brokenness, we are fighting against the higher states of grace that await us.}

^{Here is something…I have had to learn over and over again through experience: To fall out of grace is a gift, one of the greatest gifts that one receives in life.}

^{When we are in grace, we begin to take things for granted and we actually stop working on ourselves. Falling out of grace shakes us up. It reconnects us to the larger universe in order for us to see ourselves anew. It forces us to rediscover where our true center begins. And, to learn what needs to be set aside.}

Inanna’s journey to the underworld requires her to relinquish her divine knowing – making a full underworld initiation possible. She is willingly falling out of Grace and embracing an initiation into the unknown realms while also releasing the references that have defined her past knowing of who she is.

To work with this gate ceremonially consider surrendering your current understanding of your divine nature even if you feel you have a healthy understanding and experience of it. This is an opportunity to surrender what you know so you can enter into the unknown and grow in ways that wouldn’t be possible if you were not willing to take this journey.

Ways to engage this with ceremonial intent are varied. You might try breathing practices that draw your attention and breathe to your crown chakra including meditation, chanting, brain balancing entrainment practices, using the violet flame, amethyst crystals, wearing violet colors, using the essential oils of frankincense and lavender and so on.

Morning Star Venus Moon conjunctions at the First Gate from 2020 to 2030
2020 Jul 20 at 13 Gemini
2022 Jan 29 at 11 Capricorn
2023 Sep 11 at 13 Leo
2025 Apr 24 at 27 Pisces
2026 Dec 04 at 00Scorpio
2028 Jul 18 at 14 Gemini
2030 Jan 30 at 09 Capricorn